The Council for Professional Recognition recently announced plans to reimagine the process for earning its Child Development Associate® (CDA) credential.
Dr. Calvin E. Moore, Jr., the Council’s CEO, sat down to discuss what is in store for this initiative and what it means. Dr. Moore answered questions about how and why the Council came to this decision. Excerpts from the interview are below.
My journey with the Council began in 1992 when I earned my CDA®, but I have been close to the Council for a long time. When I was president of the Alabama CDA Forum, we honored the president of the Council at the time, Dr. Carol Brunson Day, with an award. I felt honored to be asked by the previous CEO to serve on the Board of Directors. My journey with the CDA was one of particular interest to the community because it is one that we hope all CDAs will achieve in their career. By this I mean, having the CDA as a launching pad to set educators on a career path, whatever journey they want to pursue. For me, that meant going from a teacher aide to state administrator and ultimately a deputy director within the Administration for Children and Families in DC. The CDA was the launching pad for my career. I was the first person on the governing board to earn a CDA. I am very proud that I brought that perspective to the board. And now I bring that to the office of the CEO.
This process started several months ago. We were thinking about changes we might make to the CDA process, not the CDA credential. We formed a Blue-Ribbon Panel composed of thought leaders in the field. We began talking about design thinking as a methodology for change management and thinking deeply about our processes. Design thinking is a process where we seek to understand our users, in this case, CDA candidates. We look at the process from different aspects and identify alternative strategies and solutions. Honestly, I was so captivated by the methodology. I thought we could expand on this idea and use it across all the components of the CDA process. Thus, the Reimagining Initiative was born.
The panel was made up of individuals from different areas of our sector: state-level influencers, other like-minded organizations, authors, current early childhood educators, board members, all people very dedicated to early education. The panel members were able to talk honestly with us about the Council’s challenges – both past and present – and we were able to listen because we knew this guidance was coming from a place of honesty and trust. We heard a variety of things, including that it would be best to offer a virtual modality.
I have been involved in several initiatives like this one. The most similar one was when I was CEO at Plaza de la Raza, an early childhood education organization operating Head Start, Early Head Start, and State Pre-K programs serving over 2,000 young children In Los Angeles County. The organization was in the midst of a crisis. I led them in transformational change to revive the organization through a $2.6 M capital campaign, recruited new board members, and created a new vision for the organization.
Having worked on these sorts of initiatives provided me with the institutional memory to rely on. I am reminded that sometimes when you are embarking on change you must manage risk and your fears. Since I have been through this before, I am not risk averse. Additionally, I believe that whenever you go through change you also benefit from those failures that may happen along the way. I think I am a better leader because I have been through these experiences.
Change is hard because people naturally fear being placed in their most vulnerable position. We get comfortable in our own jobs and change makes us uncomfortable, so we may tend to avoid it. But one thing I have learned is that change happens all the time and is all around us – seasonally, it happens in our families – and naturally, it would happen in the workforce. So even though we may fear change, we constantly grapple with it in one way or another.
We also must manage expectations as it relates to change. How can we be successful? I am clear about what we are looking to do with this Reimagining Initiative. We are looking to make the process more efficient and candidate-focused and see how much technology can help us do that.
I think they are superheroes!
When you think of superheroes, Batman, Superman, even the Incredible Hulk, they are endowed with unique qualities to meet the challenges at hand, which also applies easily to the early childhood workforce. Not only are our educators endowed with unique abilities, whether it is the CDA credential, 20 years’ experience in the field or the love of children. They also have the unique quality to be able to do more with less. They deserve our respect and admiration.
The initial phase of the initiative is about perspective gathering and learning from our stakeholders. We spoke with candidates, professional development specialists, early childhood leaders in the field. We gathered their views on the CDA process and learned as much as we can from those working in the field to gather information about how the process can become more efficient.
There are three phases in the overall process:
September 2021 is when we hope to complete the first phase of the process.
The next two phases should be done by the end of the year. We hope to finish testing and implementing a new process by June of 2022.
These phases will inform the prototype that we will then test in the field. We are looking to pilot the program in early 2022. That being said, if there are things we learn along the way that can be implemented quickly, we will certainly consider them. And I should note that this initiative will in no way impact those CDA candidates currently going through the process.
The workforce has been decimated by the pandemic. So many childcare centers closed, and many of them will not ever reopen. I understand from center directors across the country that they are having a hard time with enrollments, creating a bottleneck situation. Once their children are back, they cannot find qualified staff, so it is a two-pronged situation. Lots of people have had to move on to other jobs in other sectors. Also, we know that parents are reluctant to bring their children back and need a lot of support in feeling comfortable with this since children under 12 cannot yet be vaccinated.
Then there is an economic impact to all of this as these educators are going back to low-paying jobs; combine that with the emotional trauma from the pandemic, it is tough.
One of the interesting things that happened because of the pandemic is that it raised visibility for the early education sector. People began to understand how important we are to the economic fabric of this country and that has been demonstrated by the amount of funding that is being put into the early childhood sector as a result. We believe it will make a significant difference in the longer term. To date however, the sector has not been provided adequate funding and investment universally. It is time that we support the sector and see this investment as a public good.
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Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
Chief Operations Officer
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
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